Stonelick State Park, Pleasant Plain, Ohio

Stonelick State Park is part of the Ohio State Parks system, located in Pleasant Plain, Ohio (just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio). I visited this park in November of 2012 to explore the park’s 1058 acres worth of hiking trails, and to learn more about the area. The park has four various hiking trails ranging in length from .8 to 2 miles. I started out by parking at the parking lot across the street from the head of the Beechwood Trail. I began the trek down the Beechwood Trail, following the well marked blue dots painted on the trees to help you keep on the trail. During the 1.5 miles I rarely had any question to whether or not I was lost, though I did find a trail that has been neglected for quite some time. There are several trees and large limbs covering the trail, at times almost impassable. The trees had lost all their leaves, so the trail was covered heavily, so I didn’t get a great chance to view the actual trail, but I tripped and twisted several times from the exposed tree roots that left the path extremely difficult to walk on.

I reached the end of the Beechwood Trail and proceeded to cross the street to walk the Lakeview Trail. This trail is in far better condition, you can easily tell that it has been better maintained and sees more foot traffic than the Beechwood Trail. It’s only a short trip through the woods before coming back to Lake Drive, where the trail ends at the road. I followed it back to the other end again and proceeded to turn left and go on the Southview trail, which I found more of the same better maintained trails.

In my quest to ensure I walked as many trails as time would allow me to do, I crossed Lake Drive one more time to find the Redfox Trail, which has a sign saying that it’s 2 miles, and appeared to be marked with red dots painted on the trees. As I would soon discover, a map would be useful for this trail (but not really necessary). There are a few loops you can choose to take, at first I took the shorter loop, and realized that I had more time to enjoy the day, so I set off for the long loop as well. I found both loops to have several fallen trees and more exposed tree roots to trip on. One broken bridge almost caused me to turn back, but I took the chance and crossed anyway only to find that the trail had even less maintenance as it got extremely narrow after the bridge.

Stonelick State Park has great potential to be an incredibly nice park. The trail system is beautiful and a peaceful place to spend a sunny afternoon, though the trails are in need of some attention. The park lays along the shores of a small lake, open to boats with electric motors. As you continue down the road you find a well maintained campground open to tent or RV campers (complete with electric hookups and a dumping station). There is a camp store and plenty of recreation options for the entire family.

This park is part of the Ohio State Parks system, and is free to use (camping fees apply).